NEW LEADERSHIP AT QUEENSLAND RESOURCES COUNCIL

There has been a changing of the guard at the top levels of the Queensland Resources Council (QRC), with the most recent change resulting in the appointment of a new chief executive officer CEO to guide the organisation into the future.

Former Australian Government minister Ian Macfarlane will officially take on the CEO role on 17 November 2016 after current CEO Michael Roche steps down.

Mr Macfarlane will be joining recently appointed QRC president Rag Udd. Prior to his official appointment as president on the 26 September, Udd was vice president of the QRC board.

Throughout his 18-year career in federal parliament, Ian held a variety of minister and shadow minister roles that included resources in his portfolio. Prior to working in federal politics, Ian was president of Grain Growers Association of Queensland for seven years.

Commenting on Macfarlane’s appointment, Udd said Macfarlane would bring to QRC his intimidate bureaucracy knowledge and understanding of government and industry players.

Rag Udd

Newly appointed president of QRC’s board Udd is concurrently asset president of the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance after holding several senior roles within BHP Billiton’s various business divisions since 1997.

WHAT THE MEDIA IS SAYING

Macfarlane’s appointment has been widely publicised in Australian media with the ABC reporting concerns were raised by Labor and the Greens regarding compliance with code of conduct laws that require 18-month work restrictions for departing ministers.

Ian told the ABC prior to taking up the role, he had cleared the position with the relevant people in the Prime Minister’s office and he is “confident he is not in breach of the agreement”.

“QRC is not a registered lobbying organisation, it’s a representative body and I will comply with the code,” Ian told the news publisher.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported Macfarlane was looking forward to providing the Queensland resources sector a form of certainty after the state’s resources industry experienced 20,000 job cuts in two years.

Macfarlane also told the herald, he would be taking a more “conciliatory tone” with stakeholders compared to Roche’s more “combative” approach.

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